


Tower Talks

by Settiai



Category: Critical Role (Web Series)
Genre: Campaign 2 (Critical Role), Critmas Exchange, Misunderstandings, Multi, One Shot
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-01
Updated: 2021-01-01
Packaged: 2021-03-11 02:48:30
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,686
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28277904
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Settiai/pseuds/Settiai
Summary: They should have had a talk ages ago. Still, better late than never, right?
Relationships: Jester Lavorre/Essek Thelyss/Caleb Widogast
Comments: 14
Kudos: 44
Collections: Critmas Exchange 2020





	Tower Talks

**Author's Note:**

  * For [aunt_zelda](https://archiveofourown.org/users/aunt_zelda/gifts).



Even if she'd wanted to, Jester couldn't have hidden her smile the first time Essek walked in and saw Caleb's tower. Not that she had wanted to, but still. The point stood.

Oh, Essek tried to hide his real thoughts behind fancy words and that careful mask that he liked to wear, but she could see through that in a second. He was really, really impressed by the tower, even if he was being stubborn and trying not to let anyone see.

He and Caleb were a lot alike when it came to things like that.

"Isn't it wonderful, Essek?" Jester asked, walking up and looping her arm in his. "Caleb did such a good job, didn't he?"

Essek tensed at her touch but didn't pull away, which said everything there was to say. If he really wanted her not to touch him, he wouldn't have let her touch him. Not that he would have hurt her! But he wouldn't have let her get that close in the first place. She knew it, and he knew it, and if no one else paid enough attention to pick up on that, then that was their own fault and they shouldn't be shooting her looks that clearly meant they thought she was overstepping bounds.

"It's lovely," Essek said quietly as his gaze drifted over the entryway of the tower. "Caleb should be proud."

Jester narrowed her eyes, her gaze drifting past Essek. Caleb had already headed further into the tower, most of the others trailing behind him. He'd barely spoken to Essek all day, and she was fairly certain he hadn't said a word to him since the fight earlier had ended even though Essek had been _hurt_ and everything.

Caleb been acting weird about Essek ever since they found out that he'd been the one to steal the beacon. Jester had thought that he was getting over it, but maybe not. She shouldn't be so surprised. He could be really stubborn when he wanted.

"Come on," Jester said, pulling at Essek. He was floating again, even though she was pretty sure she'd seen him walking – well, running was probably closer to the truth – back during the fight, so he was easy to pull behind her. "The cats make really good food. You don't want to miss it."

There was a long pause.

"The... cats make the food?" Essek repeated slowly.

Jester threw him a grin over her shoulder. "Yep," she said, making sure to pop the "p" at the end. "I'm sure you'll like them. They can make anything. You should try the donuts!"

There was no reason for Essek to look as disconcerted by that statement as he did. Did he not trust her or something?

*

"Caleb!" Jester called out, throwing her arms around Caleb's shoulders. "Where is Essek going to sleep?"

He stiffened at her touch. "He has his own room, of course."

She gave him a quick kiss on the cheek before pulling away, smiling a little at how his face immediately flushed bright red. "I assumed he did," she said, "but you haven't told him where it is. So I wanted to check."

Caleb's face went carefully blank in that way that meant he was thinking really fast about something and probably coming to the wrong conclusions. "Ah," he said, reaching up to rub the back of his neck. "No, I suppose that I haven't shown him which is his yet, have I?"

"Nope," Jester said, shaking her head. Then, without pausing, she looked over her shoulder. "Essek! Caleb's going to take us to your room, so you should come!"

She smirked, just a little, at the strangled noise Caleb that made at her wording. He hadn't made that particular sound in quite some time. She'd missed it.

Essek had looked up at her call and, without a word, he started making his way towards her. It wasn't as easy to tell with him, since his skin was a lot darker than Caleb's, but she thought there was a hint of a flush to his cheeks as well as he got a little closer. Whatever the case, he was very careful to keep his gaze focused on her, not Caleb, and she knew there wasn't a chance in the Hells that Caleb hadn't noticed.

Men. Especially these two. Sometimes she thought she'd never understand them. Why did they have to make things so difficult?

"I can't wait to see your room, Essek," Jester said, reaching out to grab his arm. Then, before Caleb had a chance to start running away, she grabbed his as well. "Caleb did a really good job with all of ours, and I'm sure yours is better than anyone's."

Essek cleared his throat uncomfortably. "I'm not certain why you would think mine would be any different than the rest of yours."

"They are all different," Caleb said, looking almost as surprised to hear himself speaking. "The rooms, that is."

Essek tilted his head.

Jester turn her head and grinned at him. "They're perfect!" she said brightly. "Everyone's room was made just for them. I'm sure yours will be just as special."

"Oh," Essek said, and for just a moment the mask dropped and she saw actual surprise on his face. Then, just like that, it was back in place. "I hadn't realized. I'm very curious to see what you've done, in that case."

Caleb gave him an awkward-looking nod before looking away.

Jester looked at Caleb. She looked at Essek. Then, with a sigh, she started pulling both of them towards the center of the tower.

*

Essek had stars in his eyes as he looked around the room that Caleb had designed for him. Well, not literal stars, but figurative ones. He was a wizard. It needed clarified.

Jester couldn't blame him. She'd been impressed with all of the rooms that Caleb had created for everyone, but this one... it really was something special.

"This is—" Essek stopped abruptly, swallowing hard, before looking towards Caleb. "This is perfect. Thank you."

The mask was completely gone for once, and Jester couldn't help but be a little surprised at just how easy it was to read Essek without it. No wonder he always kept such a stoic look on his face. Even _Fjord_ would have been able to read him like a book.

Caleb, on the other hand, looked even more closed off than usual. "It's nothing," he said, reaching up to rub the back of his neck. He used it as an excuse to look away and not meet Essek's gaze, because of course he did. Jester wasn't even surprised by that point.

He didn't realize until it was too late that all that did was make him meet Jester's gaze. She could tell the moment he realized it by the way that his eyes widened, just a little bit.

"This is amazing, Caleb!" Jester said, giving him a big grin. "You really thought about what Essek would like, didn't you? It's a good thing you know him so well."

Caleb was smart. He knew exactly what she as doing, and Jester knew it. The look that he was shooting her – part annoyed, part amused, and mostly just frustrated – made it very clear if nothing else did. But it's not like he was going to call her out on it.

"You even made a sofa!" Jester said brightly. "It's just the right size for all three of us!"

Then she turned and skipped over to said sofa, plopping down right in the middle of it. She gave Caleb and Essek an expectant look before patting the empty spaces to each side of her with her hands.

Both of them stared at her like she'd just declared her neverending love for The Chained Oblivion or something.

Jester patted the sofa again.

Caleb and Essek shared a commiserating look, and Jester couldn't help but feel a little proud to have been the cause of that considering they'd been going out of their way to ignore each other so far. Then, looking far too serious, the two of them both walked over – well, floated over, in Essek's case – and reluctantly sat down beside her.

And then everything went silent.

Jester pointedly didn't break the silence, and it became more and more uncomfortable as the three of them sat there. Beside her, Caleb squirmed. Essek was unnaturally still.

She crossed her legs in front of her and leaned back against the sofa, letting her gaze move between Caleb and Essek expectantly.

To her surprise, Essek broke first. She'd really expected it to be Caleb. Or for them to keep being stubborn and all of them to sit there in awkward silence for ages and ages.

"I assume you have a point to this, Jester?" Essek asked softly.

Before she had a chance to reply, Caleb sighed. "I think we both know what her point is," he said, his voice just as quiet. "We... haven't really had a chance to talk, have we?"

Jester's eyebrows went up. "Oh, you're making this easy on me!" she said. "Please continue."

Caleb and Essek both let out an uncharacteristic snort of laughter at the exact same moment. As soon as they did, the two of them went still as if they couldn't quite process what had just happened.

Jester couldn't help it. She burst out laughing.

It caught her by surprise to realize that, after a long moment, both of them joined in.

*

Jester did a perfunctory knock on Caduceus's door before pushing it open and sticking her head in. "Caduceus!" she called. "Have you seen Caleb? He's not answering his door, but I know he has to be in the tower somewhere."

Caduceus glanced up from whatever it was that he was apparently setting on fire in a circle around him on the floor – she didn't know, and she wasn't going to ask – and looked towards her. "Did you try Essek's room?" he asked. "They seemed to be having some type of discussion earlier. It looked... heated."

"Heated?" Jester repeated. "Do you mean heated, as in they were arguing, or do you mean heated as in—" She trailed off and did her best to wiggle her eyebrows suggestively.

Caduceus stared at her blankly.

Oh. Right. It was Caduceus. She should have known better.

"Do you think they're yelling at each other, or do you think they're having sex?" she asked a bit more bluntly.

"Oh," Caduceus said. "I mean, I don't really know, but I don't think the two of them have been doing that. Not yet, at least. I could be wrong."

Jester grinned. "Thanks Caduceus!" she called out, not even giving him time to say anything in reply before she was pulling her head back out and shutting the door.

Then she made a beeline for Essek's room.

Now that Caduceus had pointed it out, she probably should have checked there first. She'd noticed that he and Caleb had been getting along a lot better since she'd made them actually talk to each other, but she hadn't realized things were going well enough that they'd gone back to doing their whole teaching each other magic thing again.

That was a good sign.

Jester did a quick knock on Essek's door and walked right in, not even waiting for a reply. Then she froze in place, her eyes going wide.

They weren't studying magic. As far as she could see, the only thing they were studying was each other's mouths, in a very up close and personal kind of way. 

Caduceus had been right, they weren't having sex either, but... well, considering just what position they were on that sofa the three of them had been sitting on not that long ago, she thought that he'd been very justified in adding "not yet" to his statement.

She wasn't exactly sure what sound she made, but it must have been something, because the next things he knew Caleb and Essek had yanked apart and were staring straight at her.

"Sorry!" Jester said, hurriedly backing up. She felt her face flush a bit with what was mostly embarrassment but at least a little bit of something else that she didn't want to look too closely at just then. "Go back to what you're doing! Don't let me interrupt."

She thought that she heard Caleb say her name, but the door was already closed and she was halfway to her own room before she even realized that he was saying anything.

They had clearly gotten over whatever complications had come up from Caleb finding out what Essek was the traitor they'd been looking for. That was good! That was what she'd been hoping for!

... so why did she suddenly feel like she'd suddenly taken a bad step and was in freefall?

*

Her room looked different.

Jester blinked as she walked in and took a look around, her gaze immediately drawn to the sofa sitting against a far wall. It was identical to the one that was usually in Essek's room except for the color. That was different, clearly changed so that it would fit in with the décor of her room. Which meant that it was definitely intentional that it was there and not just some fluke with the tower putting things in the wrong place.

But why?

She walked over to the sofa and touched it, not surprised when the material under her hand felt exactly the same as she remembered the one in Essek's room feeling. It was the perfect blend of soft and firm, comfortable but in a way that meant you could sit on it for hours and hours without any issues.

"Do you like it?"

Jester startled slightly, her gaze darting towards the doorway. She hadn't even heard it open, but Caleb was standing just inside with Essek floating behind him.

No, not floating. He wasn't quite tall enough to be floating. He was _standing_ there. That in itself was enough to draw her attention.

"I think that I'm missing something," Jester said slowly.

Caleb looked at Essek, and the two of them seemed to be having some type of conversation with their eyes. Or maybe in their heads? She didn't think they were using magic, but she wasn't entirely sure. It was hard to tell with them sometimes.

Whatever the case, Caleb nodded. The next thing she knew, he was walking past her, making his way to the sofa so that he could sit down on one side of it.

She blinked at him. Then she looked towards Essek, only to realize he was making his way towards it as well. He gave her a small smile as he walked past her, the corners of his mouth turning upwards at least, and then he sat down on the other side of the sofa.

There was just enough space for her to fit between them.

"Just the right size for the three of us," Caleb said quietly, patting that space with his hand.

A moment later, Essek did the same. "Perhaps you could sit?" he suggested. "I believe we are overdue for a talk. The three of us."

Jester stood there, staring, for a long moment. Then she heard a familiar chuckle in her ear and felt two arms gently pat her shoulders reassuringly... and then shove her forward. _Go ahead then. Those two clearly have better taste than most._

She stumbled a bit, shooting a glare over her shoulder even though she didn't actually see anyone there to glare at. Then, biting her lip, she took a step forward. And then another. And another.

When she sat down between the two of them, one arm brushing against Caleb's while the other rested against Essek's, she couldn't help but think that it felt right. It was like she'd just found something that she'd been missing, even though she hadn't noticed it was gone until that very moment.

"So," she said slowly, glancing between the two of them, "the three of us, huh? I don't know about you, but I like the sound of that."

**Author's Note:**

> Find me on Twitter. (https://twitter.com/settiai)


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